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The daughter of a woman killed in a Ponte Vedra Beach double shooting is speaking publicly for the first time, sharing what she says really happened and who her mother was.
Sienna Valdez said her mother, 46-year-old Melissa Woods, was someone who centered her life around her family. She described a home with a door that was always open, kids coming and going, and a routine that revolved around making sure everyone was taken care of.
“She was the best mom. She did everything growing up. She’d wake up and do dishes, breakfast would be done, she’d have our showers already started, she’d drive us to all our after-school activities. We always had an open door, so our house was always, like the garage was always open, the doors were always open, kids were in and out.”
Read: Vigil planned to honor woman killed in St. Johns County double shooting
Valdez says that kind of consistency and care is what she hopes to pass down to her own son, who recently turned one.
“She had a lot of love to give. And she always knew what to do and what to say, even when she didn’t know. And she had two beautiful kids, and she did a really good job raising us. And the one thing I want to carry out is, I just had a baby, he just turned one, and I would love to raise him the way my mom raised me.”
Investigators with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office said the suspected shooter, 32-year-old Christian Barrios, went to a Walgreens near TPC Sawgrass to confront Woods over infidelity. Barrios shot Woods and another man to death.
Valdez said that the infidelity claim is not true.
Read: Man accused of killing ex-girlfriend, her boyfriend near TPC Sawgrass has violent past, records show
She says she does not know the full extent of her mother’s relationship with Barrios, but believes her mother was trying to help him.
Valdez described her mother as someone who had a lot of love to give, and she believes that may have played a role in the relationship.
Valdez also shared new details about her own interaction with Barrios just hours before the shooting. She says he called her the night her mother was killed, even though she had only met him a few times before.
She says during that call, he sounded distressed and was talking in a way that made her concerned he might harm himself. She stayed on the phone with him and tried to calm him down.
The next morning, she got a call from her grandmother. At the time, she thought it might be about Barrios. She says she never imagined her mother would be the one who would be killed.
The family has planned a vigil for Melissa, Friday evening, 6 P.M. at Mickler’s Landing,
Woods’ brother, Jeremy Hackward, has created a GoFundMe to assist with afterlife expenses.
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